F1: Vettel Leads Again in Jerez

Formula 1

F1: Vettel Leads Again in Jerez

De la Rosa and Raikkonen complete top-three.

RACER & autosport.com | http://www.racer.com/speedtv | Posted July 23, 2008 Jerez, Spain

Vettel spent the whole day on slicks at Jerez on Wednesday. (LAT Photo)

For the second consecutive day, future Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel put Scuderia Toro Rosso on top of the timesheets in the Formula 1 testing sessions at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Spain.

The German youngster posted a best lap of 1:18.843 to beat McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa by over 0.2sec. The Spaniard ran for most of the day with a 2009-spec car, including, like Vettel, slick tires.

“I spent the whole time on the 2009 spec slick tires and the biggest difference you notice is in the slow corners, where you feel more mechanical grip,” Vettel reported. “However, the low downforce configuration in line with next year’s rules means you have a lack of aero which you feel on the high speed sections, but it is balanced out by more grip from the tires. We tried two types of tire and it was an interesting experiment, from which we got loads of data to study.”

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was third, another 0.4sec further back and the fastest among the drivers who only ran on 2008 rubber, while Williams’ Nico Rosberg and Red Bull’s Mark Webber completed the top-five.

Testing continues tomorrow.

Jerez F1 testing times – Wednesday:

1) Vettel, Toro Rosso-Ferrari , 1:18.843, 100 laps
2) de la Rosa, McLaren-Mercedes , 1:19.081, 122
3) Raikkonen, Ferrari , 1:19.446, 76
4) Rosberg, Williams-Toyota , 1:19.861, 112
5) Webber, Red Bull-Renault , 1:20.021, 105
6) Wurz, Honda , 1:20.416, 77
7) Trulli, Toyota , 1:20.534, 81
8) Liuzzi, Force India-Ferrari , 1:20.577, 102
9) Piquet, Renault , 1:20.827, 99
10) Klien, BMW-Sauber , 1:20.866, 89